Women in Leadership Forum 2025
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Rupal Hollenbeck
President, CheckPoint Software
Rupal Hollenbeck is a senior high-tech leader with over 25 years of hardware, software and services experience. She has built and led high performance and cross-functional teams across sales, marketing, business development, operations, and supply chain. She has a proven track record of exceeding growth targets for brands and businesses. Rupal has lived in the US, Japan, Singapore, and China and she has had China, Asia-Pacific and global responsibilities.
Rupal is currently President at Check Point Software Technologies, where she served on the Board of Directors for 14 months prior to joining the executive team. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Blackbaud (NASDAQ BLBK) and the Asian Pacific Fund (non-profit).
She is a Founding LP in Neythri Futures Fund and is an advisor to the WIL Program. A frequent speaker on topics ranging from cybersecurity to leadership, she will share her insights into leading in sustainability. -
Keynote: Chitra Nayak
Board Director, Infosys
Chitra Nayak is a board member at public companies Infosys, and formerly Invitae, ForwardAir, and LifeWorks, and private venture-backed companies VIMO/GetInsured and UrbanFootprint and formerly Intercom. She advises companies on Go-To-Market and is a Senior Advisor at BCG. She was COO Platform and SVP Global Sales Development at Salesforce, and led Go-To-Market as COO at SaaS startups.
Chitra is Chair of the ESG/Sustainability Committee at Infosys, a global IT services company that is a leader in sustainability. She serves on the board of UrbanFootprint, a sustainability insights company. She has spoken on the topic of sustainability at forums such as the annual summit for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).
Chitra has a passion for empowering women in the workplace. She is the cofounder of Neythri.org, a community which supports the advancement of South Asian professional women. She was the cofounder of the Salesforce Women’s Network initiative. Chitra has an MBA with Honors (Harvard Business School), an MS in Environmental Engineering (Cornell University) and a BTech (IIT-Madras). She was awarded the NACD 100 Directorship award in 2024. -
Jana Hunt
BA '84, Merchandise Marketing Executive Coach and Leadership Consultant
Jana Hunt’s journey in the fashion industry began with a corporate internship at a national retailer while earning her degree at 黑料福利网. After graduating, she built a 25-year career in outdoor and apparel design, leading creative initiatives across globally recognized brands. During her tenure at The North Face, Jana co-founded the Women’s Empowerment Network, an employee resource group dedicated to fostering the career and leadership development of female employees. In 2020, she launched Jana H Consulting, dedicated to coaching individuals and teams in their professional growth. She continues her passion for design by consulting for brands such as Salomon, Ergo Baby, and Sea to Summit. Jana has participated in the WIL program since 2020, maintaining her commitment to empowering and advancing individuals in their professional journeys. -
Keryn Francisco
Director, Alo
Keryn Francisco is an apparel industry veteran with a long career in Design and Innovation. Pre-pandemic, she pivoted her career after 25 years as a creative director for global brands like Levi’s, Nike, and The North Face, to focus on technology and strategy. Since then, Keryn has become a pioneer of digital transformation in the fashion industry. She has empowered hundreds of designers to use the latest in 3D technology to prototype and develop their ideas, while enabling operational paradigm shifts in sustainability and go-to-market processes. In 2022, Keryn was awarded The Gap Inc’s Game-Changing Innovation Award for Digital Product Creation.
Keryn’s values around sustainability, female empowerment, diversity and inclusion, are deeply expressed in her work. During her time at The North Face, Keryn was a key player in the advancement of WEN (The Women’s Empowerment Network) an employee resource group dedicated to mentoring, workshops and professional development.
Keryn is a graduate of UC Berkeley and FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). -
K. Daily
Senior Environmental Engineer
K. Daily is a Senior Environmental Engineer with over 5 years of experience in driving sustainability initiatives across both public and private sectors, specializing in greenhouse gas accounting, renewable energy procurement, and circular economy frameworks. Her previous work includes addressing a variety of global environmental challenges, from land management and fire protection to water treatment and pollution research.
With a global perspective, her research experience spans multiple continents, from investigating supply chain sustainability challenges in Asia and Africa to advancing microplastics research in the U.S. She is passionate about advancing conservation strategies and fostering sustainability across industries.
Currently, she leads sustainability initiatives for a global supply chain company, driving innovative projects to achieve ambitious Net Zero goals. Passionate about data-driven solutions, she advocates for scalable sustainability in the fashion industry, focusing on circular design and extending garment lifecycles through responsible sourcing. -
Anya Cheng
Founder & Ceo, Taelor
Anya Cheng is the Founder & CEO of Taelor, an AI-powered men's clothing subscription service promoting sustainable fashion. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur, she has been recognized among "Girls in Tech 40 Under 40" for her expertise in tech product management and marketing.
Anya played a pivotal role in launching Facebook and Instagram Shopping at Meta, led new business expansion at eBay, and helped grow McDonald’s global food delivery. She also shaped Target’s mobile commerce and has led teams in AI, product management, UX, and marketing across Fortune 500 companies.
Her work has earned 20+ prestigious awards, including the Webby Award for Best Shopping App, Best Mobile App Award, and The Communicator Award. A best-selling author, adjunct professor, and two-time TED speaker, she lectures at Northwestern University and 500 Global and is a sought-after keynote speaker.
Anya’s award-winning venture, Taelor, won first place at Draper University’s Startup Competition and was named a Startup to Watch by Bay Area Inno. She holds a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. -
Jessica Golden
Head of Electrolyte R&D, BlueCurrent
Jessica is passionate about driving innovation to accelerate clean-tech adoption and mitigate global climate change. With over a decade of experience, Jessica leverages a combination of data-driven experimental and theoretical approaches to guide rapid innovation in applied materials design. She has developed advanced materials and device architectures for next-generation batteries and transparent solar cells.
As a leader in battery innovation, Jessica builds and empowers teams of scientists and engineers to create cutting-edge ion transport materials products for emerging e-mobility battery technologies.
Jessica holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz -
Shirin Hasan
Advisor, Clinical and Medical Affairs
Shirin Hasan is a seasoned executive in the healthcare industry at companies such as Applied Imaging, Medtronic, Agilent etc. Shirin has in-depth experience in bringing a concept to market to improve the quality of patient lives. Her career spanning over 25 years has included expertise in the R&D, regulatory and clinical fields. Her educational foundation in science and strong leadership drives her passion to strategize on optimal ways to conduct studies, and leverage data for regulatory approvals and market adoption by physicians and healthcare systems globally. Shirin has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals and has 2 patents. She is passionate about empowerment of women, children and family services, and diversity and inclusion. -
WIL Data Summit
Sustaining Your Leadership
This year we launched the WIL Oscars (Opportunities for Student Scholarships, Creative Activities, and Research) to further data-driven research and fact based decision making that we believe is crucial in an era of disinformation.
At the WIL Forum, you can attend a showcase of projects on sustainability by WIL Oscar student winners: Huiting Wu, Osheen Gupta, Nathan Yamamoto, Shravya Yalaka, Prabhjot Gilard, Naga Sowmya Vaddempudi, Lesley Kraemer, Prasannaw Maddipati, Sri Vidya Rani Narala, and Mayukha Vallabhanen. -
Bryan Gillette, MBA '99 Executive Coach, Author, Speaker, Summiting Group
Building Grit & Resilience: Strategies for Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
Bryan Gillette is a former Vice President of human resources, ultra-distance athlete, and leadership development consultant. For more than 25 years, he has held senior roles overseeing human resources, leadership development, and communications for companies of all sizes, leading teams of hundreds of people, and managing multimillion-dollar budgets. He has taught or consulted with leaders all over the world and facilitated executive strategic planning retreats for startups to Fortune 100 organizations. He holds an MBA from 黑料福利网 and bachelor’s degrees in organizational Behavior and Communications from University of California, Davis.
As a lifelong endurance athlete, he has cycled across the U.S., completed a 300-mile ride in one day, and finished many 50- and 100-mile ultradistance runs. At age 47, he ran 205 miles around Lake Tahoe–8 back-to-back marathons—in 76 hours with 90 minutes of sleep. In 2024, he completed a marathon in Antarctica and climbed to the 19,341’ summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
When not traveling the world with his wife and two boys, he lives with them in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bryan will lead a workshop on building resilience for sustainable leadership. -
Asha Rao Director- WIL Professor of Management- Cal State East Bay
Vision Board Workshop: Turn Your Dreams into Reality
Dr. Asha Rao is a Full Professor of Management at CBE leading the WIL Program and the 1 year Accelerated MBA Program. She conducts research and consults on leadership, negotiations, disability inclusion and cross-cultural management. Dr. Rao has developed and taught courses based on her areas of expertise at 黑料福利网, Rutgers, and McGill Universities. She has received multiple awards for her work including the George and Miriam Phillips Outstanding Professor Award 2024/25. She is a Senior Fulbright Fellow. She will facilitate a workshop on vision boarding. -
Karen Laos- Communication Expert, Confidence Cultivator, and TEDx Speaker Coach
How to Become a Confident Communicator
Is it what you say or how you say it that matters most? In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn practical communication strategies to speak with confidence in any situation. Whether an interview, a presentation, a meeting, or simply ordering your next coffee drink, you'll elevate your leadership presence and your message so you can make an impact that builds trust and credibility quickly.
Your voice has the power to change your life. And yet, many women miss opportunities because they don’t speak up.
Karen Laos, Communication Expert, Confidence Cultivator, and TEDx speaker coach, is on a mission to eradicate self-doubt in 10 million women by giving them simple strategies to speak up and ask for what they want. She’s spoken on stages such as NASA, Google, Starbucks, and Sephora. Her signature framework, The Confidence Cocktail™, is helping women become clear and compelling communicators so they can break through glass ceilings.
Karen first recognized the power of confident communication when she successfully negotiated her first flea market purchase at six years old. She now guides women to transform self-doubt into self-confidence, resulting in more clients and negotiation wins.
A fun fact about Karen: Following her lifelong dream to live in Manhattan, she rented an apartment there for an entire month and lived like a local.
